The Hon. Amy Grimes is a judge for the Fort Smith Division of the Sebastian County District Court in Arkansas. She was elected to the bench in 2020.
Prior to her election, Grimes was an administrative law judge for the Arkansas Workers Compensation Commission, a position to which she was named in 2011. She has also held assignments as a special justice for the Arkansas Supreme Court.
Grimes earned a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from the University of Tulsa in 1994. She then completed a J.D. at the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1998.
She is admitted to practice in the United States District Court for the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.
Shortly after graduating from law school, Grimes began working as a deputy public defender for the Sebastian County Public Defender’s Office. She served in that capacity until 2007, at which time she became legal counsel for the Office of the Arkansas Governor (Mike Beebe). During her tenure there, she advised the state’s leadership on criminal justice policy, including alternative sentencing.